Sunday, January 13, 2008

Here's how it works...I will send a handmade gift to 3 random people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this Pay It Forward exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week… LOL… but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

What a lovely idea! I decided I wanted to do it but it's taken a little while to get from thought to action!I'm not sure yet what I will make for the random winners but it will probably be a little something from my new books 'Bend-the-Rules Sewing' or 'Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts' ...because I really need a good excuse to make some stuff out of those cute patterns!Any comment on any post between now and 25th January 2008 might just win a prize.

We had a lovely few day visiting friends and COMPLETELY FORGOT about the fancy dress theme of 'Uniform' for a friends party until the morning of the party. Oops. Luckily I love a challenge and have an interesting collection of crap, I mean, bits and pieces, (stuff I save because it might be useful in the classroom) to help me out. Hubby was easy, his Kenny styled 'Splashdown' uniform was mostly out of his wardrobe. All that was needed was a VIP tag (Thanks Publisher) and a 'Splashdown' logo for his hat. (Scrap of black fabric stitched onto hat, words written in Puff paint).My son was a bit trickier, but my easy pants pattern came in handy, and the sailor style collar was a bit fiddly, mainly because I didn't have quite enough trim. Dont look to close or it will become apparent the stripes are made from bias binding, ribbon and twill tape...lol. I even managed a hat but he wouldn't wear it!And for myself, well by this stage it was 7pm and party time was in one hour. Take one old bedsheet, upsize the easy pants pattern, and create one very basic top requiring only side seams and a tiny bit of a neck facing and what have you got? Scrubs! Yay, so easy and finished within the hour. Accessories from the dress up box. We all had a great night too.

It's so very satisfiying (and economical) to feed your family from your own garden. This basket became a quiche. And later we used our lemons to make a mayonnaise. Oh yum.And its nearly three monthe since our chooks arrived from the egg farm and its a relief to see them almost fully feathered again. Thanks for the eggs ladies, keep up the good work!

As I was packing all our christmas stuff away I was pleased to see the handmade stuff is multiplying every year. And the Christmas UFO box is gradually emptying!This funny little nativity was a kit Mum bought for me from a discount store years ago, and it finally made it together this year. The intructions called for lots of gluing but it was so slow and messy I substituted sewing wherever possible. The Holy Family have already survived being ripped off the tree for cuddles by a toddler.Also completed this season was another discount store kit from Mum, this funny looking angel, in front of our very simple cardboard advent calendar.

These are a mixture of crafts from this year and past years, experimenting with different media! A few years ago everybody got fimo angels with their gifts. I remember making heaps of ornaments with fimo and was surprised to only find six amongst my decorations. Then I remembered I gave most of them away and my parents have a vast collection of fimo for their tree!

This is a half finished Christmas card holder from Handmade Magazine a few years ago. It's the only thing not packed up because I want to finish it while I've got the bits out. The embroidery was a lovely portable project and much of it was done in the car between Christmas visits to relatives (hubby was driving!).

Ah, our wreath! It's a work in progress. It was started when I moved into my own flat about 8 years ago, and has been added to each year. It's evolved quite a lot since its first outing. Only about 320 days 'til I can unpack it all again, I wonder what will be crafted for next time?